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lawnmowerman

woops

RedHeart54

Have you received any other star cards such as Art Monk or Walter Payton or have the cards been outright commons?

lawnmowerman

<< <i>Have you received any other star cards such as Art Monk or Walter Payton or have the cards been outright commons? >>

Yes, 2 or 3 Monks and 3 Paytons. Like I said I want to see the good in people but sometimes I just dont know.

MAtt

CDsNuts

Ouch lawn, that stings. Topps did have coallation codes and it would be fairly easy for someone to pick out all the packs with Montana if they knew where to look. If they're from a reputable dealer then either:

a) You've had some crappy random luck

or

b) His packs were picked over by a previous owner and he doesn't know about it.


The argument for "a" is that a while back I bought a cello box from Steve at BBCExchange and pulled 3 Montana's when boxes average about 1.22, then I bought ten 1983 Topps baseball vending boxes and only pulled 3 each of Gwynn and Boggs when I should have pulled 6 of each card. Sometimes you win, sometimes you don't. The argument for "b" is that sometimes the unopened material dealers will buy a large collection of stuff from a closed down shop or private collector, and some of the stuff has been picked over without their knowledge, and they have no way of knowing. You can always ask the person you're buying from if the stuff is coming out of an unopened case; it's a fair question. I would definitely notify the person you're buying from but not in a complaining way. I'm sure they would like to know if there's a chance the stuff they're selling has been picked over.

If you're interested I just got grades back on two of my Montana's- 9OC and 8OC. I know the qualifier hurts, but I'd be willing to trade one if you're interested.


Lee

wallst32

Doesn't matter how well known or liked a pack dealer is; they still need to get their material to resell from somewhere. Not all of their buys for resells are from factory sealed cases, so they will have some "bad" product mixed in with the good stuff. The one thing you can be confident about is that the respected dealer isn't the one searching the packs, but it doesn't mean they weren't searched before.

Anybody searching 81 racks would probably not bother pulling anything but the Montana. The cards were packed in the same pattern, so yes it would be possible for somebody to cherrypick 98% of the Montanas if they knew the sequence (I say 98% because the sequence can/will vary slightly; not sure of the reason).

Of the 528 cards, how many different ones do you have? With 1344 cards, the odds were definitely in your favor for hitting at least one, but I don't think it would be shocking if you didn't given the number of packs you opened.

lawnmowerman

Thanks for everyones opinions. My thought was to ask the boards about this matter because I am new to collecting the semi-old stuff such as this. I wasnt sure if they were sequenced but didnt want to offend the dealer or start any problems. My thought as you guys mentioned was that possibly the stuff was picked over before this dealer got them. He is a good, reputable dealer and didnt mean to offend him but I ended up doing that anyway. Sorry for airing my laundry in public.

Matt

Stone193

Matt
This is an open forum where there is freedom of expression for the advancement of ideas and knowledge.
I see nothing wroing with you asking a "hard" question that could upset someone. As long as the question is asked without unfairly pointing the finger at someone without them being able to give a defense.

It does sound odd but not impossible or improbable - cases are packed in such a way that anything can happen. I really think Fleer and Donruss vending is more predictable than Topps, e.g., from my understanding.... having said that, anything is possible. The same can happen with racks, packs and cellos. From what I have seen, cellos are easy to find a "sequence" - racks?...why not?

I don't remember you mentioning who the dealer was? If I had bought regularly from a guy, I wouldn't hesitate asking them about it if I felt badly about my find...if you had spent a bundle with me and reported something like that, and I trusted you, I would consider giving you some kind of "present" to make you feel better
.
Keep asking the tough questions dude...that's how we learn from each other.

your friend
mike

CDsNuts

Stone,
While I agree with you 100%, in a case such as this I feel it's a little unfair to not go to the dealer first and try to get everything straightened out, especially if the dealer has a reputable image and a history of doing the right thing. While lawn was trying to help himself, and help understand why the odds were defied and he did not pull the Montana, it's possible that he could've inadvertently cost the dealer he bought from some business, even though he did not name who he bought them from. A while back I bought some stuff I wasn't happy with and posted about it before awaiting a response from the seller, and the seller was more than happy to make things right in my eyes. This led to some guilt on my part for posting about it as I may have inadvertently taken money out the seller's pocket, and he was gonna do the right thing anyways. It seems as though lawn is experiencing the same thing here. Just my thoughts.

Lee